This invention relates to a safety valve for a compressed gas cylinder, in which an access valve is axially located at one end of the cylinder.
1. Field of the Invention
The access or control valve on a compressed gas cylinder such as an oxygen tank is in open position when in use, and if the tank inadvertently gets knocked over, the valve extending axially from the end of the tank my be deflected or broken off at the point where it joins the tank, thus creating a hazard by the high pressure gas exiting the tank.
This invention provides a valve axially connected with a compressed gas control valve and disposed in a cylinder which automatically closes in the event of an accident rupturing or breaking the outwardly projecting control valve.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,517 issued Jan. 6, 1976 to Gagala for Safety Valve and U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,973 issued Sep. 8, 1992 to Green et al. for Safety Valve For Compressed Gas Cylinders. Each of these patents disclose a primary valve for accessing compressed gas in a cylinder and a secondary valve located within the cylinder and axially connected with the primary valve in which the normally open secondary valve is spring biased closed to contain the gas in the event the primary valve is deflected or broken off of the cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,167 issued Dec. 1, 1964 to Mueller et al. for Service Tee Installation Including Excessive-Flow Safety Valve and U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,140 issued Aug. 9, 1988 to Davis for Snap-Off Plug Valve are considered good examples of the further state-of-the-art. Both of these patents disclose a tubular member for releasing fluid from a source in which the tubular member contains a normally open valve in the tubular member biased closed by fluid pressure in the source in response to rupture of the tubular member at a circumferential fracture line which would otherwise exhaust the fluid to the atmosphere.
This invention is believed distinctive over the above patents by providing a compressed gas primary control valve having an axially connected probe projecting into a compressed gas cylinder to maintain a safety valve, axially depending from the primary valve, in open position and releases the safety valve to close in the event the primary valve is ruptured or broken off of the cylinder.